So, I’ve finally done two things that I’ve been endeavouring to do for the last five years: Visit Ireland, and get some egg-laying chickens. Let’s start with the chickens.

My dad and I have always joked about getting farmyard-type animals. First it was a goat, to ‘mow’ the lawn (you tether it in one location for a few days, it eats all the grass, and then you move the tether). Then it was a pig — a Vietnamese potbellied pig, to be exact — but they get too big, smelly, and unwieldy. Finally, chickens. I mooted the idea a few months ago, when I bought this end of the house, but neither of us did anything about it — and then, two weeks ago, my dad sent me an email with a link to a posh chicken coop… and I bought it. A week later, we went to a local chicken farm to get four chickens.

Meet Maggie, Florence, Poppy, and Currently Not Named:

Maggie (white) is a Coral hybrid, Florence (ginger) is a Colombian Blacktail, Poppy (grey) is a Columbine, and Unknown is a Copper Black (some kind of Maran, I think, a French bird). I’m currently thinking of some kind of politically incorrect name for the Copper Black, like Martin Luther King or Winnie Mandela. Or a black location (like Harlem, Compton, etc.)

Maggie and Florence are currently laying eggs (cream and light brown respectively), but the other two are still too young I think. The eggs are delicious!

For the first week they stayed in the coop/run thing, but this weekend they were allowed to free range for the first time. Judging by the noises they’ve made and the hours they’ve spent rummaging in the mud beneath our big trees, I think they’ve been enjoying themselves. We lost them earlier today — they’d gone half way up the drive and about two meters into the hedge/treeline. Had to go behind them and bang a pan to rustle them out.

Anyway, as I seem to be running the risk of turning into the farmyard equivalent of a mommy blogger, I should probably stop there.

Ireland! (You definitely want to click to see the full-size version of this photo.)

Just like my semi-infatuation with farmyard animals, I’ve always talked about going to Ireland and Scotland, but never actually been. I always thought it was a bit sad that I’ve crawled through ancient caves in Cappadocia, Turkey and hugged giant redwoods in Yosemite, but never seen the Giant’s Causeway or Ben Nevis.

Anyway, I received an offer I couldn’t refuse to visit the south west of Ireland… and so I went! And keenly!

The first two days, we had lovely weather. The second two days, there was so much fog, mist, low cloud, and rain that visibility generally ranged from 20 to 200 meters. But the food was good, the company was excellent, and what we did see was very pretty. Take Fungie, for example — a friendly dolphin who has been a resident of Dingle Bay for almost 35 years. He never leaves. His only friends are the hundreds of tourists who come to see him every day.

With all of the bays and inlets, the west coast of Ireland really reminded me of Norway and the Faroe Islands. I almost could’ve shot these two photos in the Faroes:

On the other hand, this is all we could see of the Cliffs of Moher, a few-mile stretch of cliffs that overlook the Atlantic Ocean and the Aran Islands. The Cliffs of Moher are, like, the number one tourist attraction in Ireland. I felt rather bad for the Asian tourists who had travelled thousands of miles to be greeted with a blanket of fog. At times, the cloud cleared just enough to see the outline of the nearest cliff. Really sucky.

This is what the cliffs look like on a good day:

Other things I did in Ireland, in no particular order: Ate my first mussel (as part of a seafood chowder thing); Received enough inspiration that I may have to update my Best Places To Have Sex guide; Watched the Euro Cup 2012 final from a swanky hotel suite; (Almost) did a doughnut on a beautiful beach; and… I went to a drive-in cinema!

So cool — it seems they’re experiencing some kind of renaissance at the moment, or something. You just drive into this big car park, face towards the screen (some kind of massive white sheet hanging over a scaffold tower), and tune your radio into a specific FM frequency. Voila! It was pretty cheap, and you can bring your own snacks, and obviously you can make out and stuff. It felt very… 1950s America.

The people in Ireland were very friendly. I’d definitely go again (especially to the north, to see the Giant’s Causeway).

As for general travel plans and other real life stuffs, I don’t have anything on the agenda for the rest of the year. I have a cool business plan up my sleeve that might require all of my attention for the next few months. The house is looking cool, but still unfinished. Writing is going well, though I don’t know how long I will find it enjoyable. I love writing — and I love people reading stuff that I write — but out of the 50 hours I work per week, I probably only write for 20 of those.

I think that’s about it for now! I need to go make sure the chickens are all cooped up for the night. There’s more photos on Flickr and Facebook of the chickens and Ireland, if you’re interested.

Did the chickens lay eggs in weird places? So far ours have all been laid in the coop… but I’ve been told they can sometimes lay them elsewhere… I guess if they’re wandering around and are suddenly struck by the urge to lay an egg…

I live in Canada (Toronto) but I was born in Moscow. So, hence the chicken experience. Ours weren’t really free range because our house was near other houses so they just chilled where we let them chill, so, yeah, they always laid eggs in the coop. I would think it’s like a consistency/safety thing. But I honestly don’t remember much since I was only like 6 when we had them.

It’s so great that you finally did it though. It sounds like a lot of fun (and a lot of good omelets).

The Inch Beach photos are gorgeous! I do love photos of clouds and beaches. Those rolling hills in the background look so different from the jagged landscape here. Different, but equally lovely.

Your photo of the Cliffs of Moher surprisingly resembles our view from the peak of Haleakala at sunrise! I was maybe 12 at the time. My dad drove us up there (peak is about 10,000 ft) early in the morning, but it was just gray fog everywhere. Could barely see the visitor’s center from the parking lot. Luckily we were able to go back the next day and see the view, but not at sunrise–my dad refused to try that again.

There was a drive-in theater in a nearby town when I was in high school. I’d go with a group of friends, and they always showed double features (I remember seeing Finding Nemo and the first Pirates of the Caribbean there as a double feature). It was nice.

The chickens sound like fun. Is there a noticeable taste difference between the different hens’ eggs?

Yeah, we do rolling hills by the buttload here in Ireland and the UK The west coast of Scotland/Ireland are pretty special though — I assume because of glaciation and stuff. (I wonder what the Irish equivalent of fjord and loch is…)

Fun story, re: Haleakala I keep meaning to do more dawn photography, but it’s just so damn hard — especially in the summer. In the winter I guess it could be pretty easy, because of my northern latitude. But then it’s a matter of finding a high point that has a decent landscape — they’re few and far between here Trees, trees, trees…

The eggs are definitely a bit tastier! But not, like, mind-blowingly tasty. I already ate store-bought free-range eggs, so I dunno what the real difference is. The feed apparently makes quite a difference.

Chickens!!! They are sooooooooooooo cute! I have adopted my neighbors chickens and roosters cause i would throw left over rice over the fence and they would run to eat it. haha. we did have miniature chicken and rooster a few years back and the rooster was killed by a dog and the chicken ran away with a bigger rooster. LOL I guess size do matter Do you have a rooster? or are they all chickens? I would love to have my own chicken but…since there are chickens everywhere here it’s like having your own chicken but they don’t live with you